DUTERTE WANTS ‘OPEN AL­LIANCES’ WITH RUS­SIA, CHINA

MANILA: Philip­pine Pres­i­dent Ro­drigo Duterte said on Mon­day he would visit Rus­sia and China this year to chart an in­de­pen­dent for­eign pol­icy and “open al­liances” with two pow­ers which have his­toric ri­val­ries with the US. Duterte said the Philip­pines was at the “point of no re­turn” in re­la­tions with for­mer colo­nial ruler the US, so he wanted to strengthen ties with oth­ers, and picked two global pow­ers that have been spar­ring with Washington on the in­ter­na­tional po­lit­i­cal stage. He said he would open up the “other side of the ide­o­log­i­cal bar­rier”. – Reuters